Heartwarming / Hawkeye (2021)

Moment pages are for post-viewing discussion; they assume that you've already seen the work in question, and as such are spoiler-free.

Episode 1: Never Meet Your Heroes

• The very opening scene, despite being set in the tragedy of the Battle of New York (and with Kate Bishop and her mother Eleanor losing the father, Derek) helps sell the oft-ignored contribution of Clint/Hawkeye within the narrative. Whatever the flashy theatrics the other high-powered Avengers are capable of, Clint's position as one who reliably supports the team together with sheer competence—such that his rescue of Kate Bishop is practically Achievements in Ignorance—helps highlight (together with the Title Sequence portraying Kate's growth as an athlete and fighter) just how inspiring his heroics (however Boring, but Practical they were seen as) can truly be.
• The aforementioned Title Sequence. Kate received her bow and began training in multiple disciplines, and in a refreshing aversion of Instant Expert, she visually grows into her skill in the modern day. Her first medal was a bronze, and she's shown being overly cocky in martial arts and fencing bouts, stumbling during a gymnastics performance, and otherwise being human. Becoming a Badass Normal takes dedication, hard work, and most of all, patience.
• While doing the bell tower bet, Kate's friends tease her for her purple outfit. She retorts that she figured she'd dress for the part. Considering the bits of purple in Clint's usual outfit, it's pretty obvious emulating her hero gives Kate the boost in confidence when loosing arrows.
• Lila notices Clint's discomfort during the musical and goes outside to check he's okay and have a heart to heart about Natasha.
  • Natasha's legacy is seen in a little girl in the audience who has red hair in a braid and is wearing a Black Widow costume. The little girl also recognizes Clint and waves to him. And while being reminded of Natasha clearly pains him, Clint still manages to give her a strained, uncomfortable smile.
  • Ant-Man being included in the play is a major Pet the Dog moment after he was shown to be an unknown superhero back in Endgame. Either Scott got the recognition for his role in conceiving the Time Heist plan to bring back everyone who was Snapped, or the writer/director is such a huge fan, they included their favorite Avenger simply for Rule of Cool.
  • As bad as the musical is, it at least shows that the Avengers and Steve in particular are practically historical icons at this point and people want to honor them. Even if they're doing it badly in this show's case.
  • Despite being half-hearted compared to the other Avengers, the singers admit that Hawkeye seems cool and is probably a nice guy. He later gets a line about how no one is a better shot than him.
• When Clint takes his kids out for dinner, the owner of the restaurant recognizes him and gives them the meal for free. Even years after the Battle of New York, the city still appreciates the Avengers for saving them.
  • During the dinner, Clint asks what his kids' favorite holiday traditions are and promises they'll get to enjoy every single one of them together. He's always been a good parent to his kids and not even the last five years have dulled that side of him.
• Lucky runs out into traffic and stops in the middle of the street. Kate, who was chasing after him, pulls him out of the way just before a car hits him. She then brings him home and feeds him some leftover pizza.

Episode 2: Hide and Seek

• Kate becoming completely tongue-tied and falling apart at the seams in pure fangirl mode when she sees that she's meeting Hawkeye.
  Kate (grinning from ear to ear): You're... kind of my favorite Avenger.
• Despite their safety being their priority, Clint also tells Kate to grab Lucky and go as her apartment is set ablaze by the Tracksuit Mafia.
• Nate, Clint's youngest, is learning signing language to communicate with his dad.
  Nate: I love you, dad.
  Clint: I love you more.
• Though Clint is reluctant to infiltrate a LARP to get the stolen Ronin costume back, he allows fanboy LARPer "Grills" to "kill" him, gives him a fist bump, and lets him call him Clint. He even admits that it was sort-of fun.
• Laura is apparently completely aware of Clint's past as Ronin and helps him hide what he's doing from the kids.
• Like his appearance in Rogers, Scott Lang apparently is getting the recognition he earned when it's shown that the impersonators doing photo ops in Times Square include Ant-Man. Not even Clint, an OG Avenger, has one.
• Kate retorting to Clint's cynicism about his heroic deeds by telling him that he's an inspiration.
• Clint helping Kate properly clean and bandage her wounds.
• Kate outright deriding the idea of Darker and Edgier having to be the standard for superheroes, saying that nowadays people want brighter and more exciting in the heroes that protect them. There is something warm about that sentiment, especially given how darker and more mature content has been increasingly making its way into superhero media in recent years.

Episode 3: Echoes

• The loving relationship between Maya and her father is shown here. He learns sign language to better speak with Maya and is shown to be very encouraging. He even makes up an analogy about dragons crossing from one world to another, and how it makes them stronger, for her.
  • Maya's "uncle" fondly pinches her cheek after her father says he'll be taking her home after class. The smile she gives him is adorable.
  • In this version, the half circle of triangles on Maya's uniform is revealed to have been a tattoo on her father's neck. Her handprint is also what he left on her face in his own blood as he lay dying. Half her iconic look is tribute to the man who raised her alone.
• When Maya arrives to interrogate Clint and Kate, she notices Clint's hearing aid and takes a moment to offer genuine advice on how to adapt to his deafness.
• Clint has a Pym Particle Arrow, complete with a Pym Technologies branded arrowhead, meaning that Hank Pym (who is established in Ant-Man to be very protective over the applications of his scientific discoveries) trusts Clint enough to allow him to use the size changing particle.
• Despite their initial disagreements, Clint compliments Kate on her archery skills, which she is clearly thrilled to hear. For her part, she also tells Clint how much he inspired her, despite his unwillingness to view himself as any sort of role model.
• Kate helping Clint out with his phone call with Nathaniel after his hearing aid gets temporarily damaged.
• Maya and Kazi may be hardened criminals, but it's clear that they care for each other, with Kazi looking out for her and expressing concern that she may bring about the wrath of her uncle.
• Kate drawing up a new superhero costume for Clint... and it looks just like his Silver age costume that's been largely phased out in both the comics and other adaptations. Clint balks since he really doesn't want to be a Highly-Visible Ninja in his jobs, but Kate makes a case for not only why it would work but how it would make his hero persona better. There's something sweet about a new hero in the MCU, which has become notorious for a more realistic take on its setting while wholly excising ideas that are just seen as too ridiculous, making the case to bring in something that embraces the sheer craziness that could exist in the comics.
• Kate tries out a bunch of other pizza related alternative names for Pizza Dog, garnering no reaction from him. When she falls back on "Pizza Dog", he smiles happily.
• While the conversation is primarily Played for Laughs, Kate lets a member of the Tracksuit Mafia vent to her about his relationship problems, then offers him some advice on how to patch things up with his girlfriend.

Episode 4: Partners, Am I Right?

• Despite initially denying it, Clint concedes and tells Kate’s mother they are indeed working together on a case. Kate smiles in response, clearly overjoyed to hear her hero say that.
• Kate is making the most out of what she can to, at the very least, make up for Clint missing out on his Christmas plans for his kids (i.e. movie night, ugly sweaters and pizza). Furthermore, she not only tries to rope in the NYPD LARPers into retrieving the arrows he asks for, she is also clearly trying to make them more involved in helping Clint out directly (and they're even pretty into it too).
  • In addition, the fact that the NYPD LARPers are committing some violation of protocol (i.e. 'evidence tampering', as they openly acknowledged) without any indication of Inspector Javert against Clint and Kate really suggests that regular people do trust Hawkeye that much—a pretty touching Running Gag over the past episodes.
  • As enthusiastic as they are about Hawkeye, one of the LARPers is really reluctant to let him borrow her bag as it was custom made for her by her wife.
• Despite not trusting Jack at all, Kate can't quite hide her smile at seeing her mother's happiness with him.
• When Kate learns that Hawkeye and Ronin are one and the same, she does seem shaken by the fact that Clint was trained to be an assassin. But, this doesn't make her think any less of him and she quickly reassures him how, while he made mistakes, he's done all he can to put them behind him and to protect people.
• Kate asks Clint about the best shot he's ever made. He replies that his best shot was the one he didn't take; referring to when he was sent to take out Natasha (when she was an assassin), but decided not to kill her when recognizing that she wasn't an assassin by choice and wanted out.
  • All of Clint's opening up to Kate is really sweet. It's clear that even if he doesn't want to admit it, he's beginning to see her as a partner and a friend. He even teaches her how to throw a coin and richochet it!
  • It's also lovely that he trusts her enough to open up to her about very painful subjects in his life—he could have easily shared some story about a fancy trick shot instead of telling her about Natasha.
• When Yelena ambushes Clint and Kate, she attaches a rope to Kate as she throws her over the building, to keep her out of the way safely so she can go after her real target since Kate's not involved with Natasha's death. Killing Kate would have been the easier option, so it shows Yelena has a moral compass and didn't kill Kate because she had no reason to kill her.
  • There's also when Kate and Yelena make eye contact. Kate has an arrow nocked, but doesn't shoot. Likewise, Yelena doesn't harm her in any way – besides giving her a neutral glare – and runs off when her face is exposed. One cannot help but think this reflects what Clint meant when he mentions that the best shot he ever took was the one he didn't take: when he spared Natasha's life.
• Even before Yelena's identity was revealed and she's aiming a loaded gun at Kate, Clint immediately steps between them and shields Kate from the pointed gun with his own body, trying to calmly defuse the situation. And based on Clint's expression and not even nocking an arrow, it's likely he just wanted to explain that Kate is not a threat and he's just trying to get her and himself out of a bad situation. If only Maya hadn't butted in and caused a rooftop battle royale.
• After being attacked by Yelena, Clint tells Kate to go home and that they're not partners. He's not doing this out of frustration or cold dismissal towards Kate, but out of genuine concern for her safety. He knows firsthand how extremely dangerous Black Widow assassins are and Kate is, by far, not experienced enough to deal with that high-level of a threat yet.
  • Kate, while clearly saddened, doesn't appear totally offended when he says they're not partners, because she understands how concerned Clint is deep down. However, after losing her father and being unable to protect her family once before, she desperately wants to be able to protect herself and others from dangerous assassins like Maya and Yelena.
  • Also, during the fight, Clint clearly has a Nightmare Fuel Call-Back when Yelena shoves Kate off the building and he sees her fall in a similar manner that Natasha did. (Earlier in the episode, he's seen remembering when Natasha sacrificed herself and is clearly still grieving her loss.) He doesn't want to relive the worst moment of his life by losing someone else close to him yet again (especially someone he deems to be Just a Kid at that), so he's trying to cut ties with Kate in an attempt to protect her.

Episode 5: Ronin

• The opening scene shows Yelena and Sonya, another Black Widow, keeping their promise to find and deprogram the other Widows still under the effects of mind control. Ana, the former Widow they're tracking, turns out to not need their help, but it's still sweet that they tried anyway. The three of them then sit down to catch up and chat like old friends.
  • Yelena and Ana have a touching conversation about the former's efforts to free the other Widows that were still under the effects of the Red Room's mind control by travelling all across the world for two years. Although it's hard work finding them and tracking them down and emotionally difficult to see the Widows awake from their brainwashing, Yelena feels it's all worth it to see them get the chance to live a normal life and regain their free will.
    Ana: So, how many Widows have you helped?
    Yelena: Many. Many... Yeah, it's hard work. It's hard finding them. It's... it's... It's hard watching them wake. But it's so worth it. And when we've cleared up all of this mess, we will make good lives for ourselves.
  • Yelena excuses herself for a moment and while in the bathroom the Snap and the Blip happen. Luckily, Ana is still living in the house five years later and welcomes Yelena back. She catches Yelena up on events that have happened, but immediately starts arranging for Yelena to get her life back on track by offering to get her into contract work to financially support herself (which is assassin work, but she honestly means to help Yelena) and that she can stay with her indefinitely until she's settled (again). Yelena's main priority is finding Natasha and letting her big sister know she's okay.
  • The fact that Ana and Sonya have both successfully put their Widow pasts behind them and built new and happy lives for themselves. Ana is married and has an adopted daughter, commenting that her new life as a wife and mother is "amazing", and she mentions Sonya has moved on to a happy life too. After everything these women went through, it's touching to see them find happiness, especially since some of them (as shown with Helen in Shang-Chi) have chosen to remain in the wetwork/black-ops business.
• Although she's revealed to be Evil All Along, Eleanor gives her daughter some comfort after her fallout with Clint. She even encourages Kate that she can still achieve her dream of being an Avenger-like hero, even if it's not how she thought it would have happened, showing that she does genuinely love her daughter.
  • In turn, when Kate tells her what she and Clint learned about Jack, she’s not happy about (as far as she knows) breaking her mother’s happiness after seeing it last episode; she just softly pleads Eleanor to simply look into it. And when he’s arrested in front of them later, she sincerely apologises to her mother for it — demonstrating how much she’s matured since first learning about her mother’s engagement.
• Yelena affectionately refers to Alexei as "my daddy" in a brief comment while trying to get Kate to eat the mac and cheese she made. Yelena and Alexei had a hard time connecting in Black Widow (2021), but they have clearly made a lot of progress during the time since then to where she now speaks of him fondly.
• No matter how badly Yelena paints Clint as a villain and cold-blooded killer, Kate's faith in him never falters and she even hits back with a strong, logical argument in his defense. Kate points out that, while Clint has a past and has made mistakes, he has helped save the world many times and sacrificed much in his life to do so. Even though she's admittedly only known Clint for a week, after hearing his side of his stories – specifically seeing his shame of his past and wanting to atone – and seeing him protect her and others, she knows he's a good man who has endured a lot to protect the world and doesn't deserve any judgment for his past.
• Although Yelena and Kate's interactions seem awkward, tense, and quite humorous, it also has some heartwarming stuff between the two:
  • Yelena gives Kate props for saving a dog that ran into traffic, which makes sense since she's a dog lover, and admits she can't help but give her "points" for the deed. Even Kate looks a bit proud of herself and generous that someone recognizes her heroisms.
  • Kate offers to tell Yelena about New York since it's her first time visiting the big city.
  • When Kate learns that Yelena is Natasha's sister, she actually fangirls for a moment and is thankful she didn't "kill her". Aside from laughing over the "killing her" part (since Yelena is clearly far more experienced than Kate), Yelena does seem genuinely touched to be recognized with the honor.
  • Kate tells Yelena that Clint saved the world while Yelena retorts to Kate that it was Natasha who saved it. Both of them are right.
  • Although intimidated by Yelena, Kate offers some logical reasonings regarding the former's benefactor and their intentions of killing Clint, possibly to help her see the error of her ways and prevent her from committing Revenge Before Reason.
  • Yelena interrogates Kate as to where Clint might be, but she admits she doesn't know. Yelena could likely tell she was giving an honest answer and something happened between the two. Instead of demanding through force, Yelena thanks her for the "girl's night" and leaves her be (but does give her a cold warning to stay out of her way).
  • Yelena also recognizes that Kate has inevitably gotten herself involved with what's going on and, after hearing Kate's speech, she sympathetically tells her that there'll be no going back for her when she learns the truth of who exactly she's up against. As such, she reveals Eleanor Bishop's true nature – probably since Kate would have found out anyway or would never admit it without clear proof. This also showcases that Yelena did heed Kate's advice earlier to dig deeper into her benefactor's true motives.
• The plaque mentioning the Battle of New York and how the Avengers started there as a team, complete with the names of the Original Six, showing the Avengers were formally honoured by the city of New York.
  In this site in 2012
  During the Battle of New York,
  The Avengers first assembled.

  Steve Rogers

  Tony Stark

  Thor Odinson

  Bruce Banner

  Natasha Romanoff

  Clint Barton
• After Kate saves Clint's life from being impaled by Maya (by shooting the Ronin sword out of Maya's hands seconds before she could impale him) and then escaping the area by Uber, the pair walk together in the streets of New York and in a moment of symbolism, Clint gives the arrow that Kate used to save his life back to her.
• The scene of Grills, Clint, Kate, and Lucky the Pizza Dog eating breakfast together in Grills' apartment like they were long-time roommates, with Grills showing off the tricks that he taught Lucky to Kate and Clint and the latter two relaxing and enjoying themselves for the first time in a while. Then Kate gets a text...

Episode 6: So This Is Christmas?

• After learning how dangerous Kingpin is and her mother's revealed involvement with him, Kate is sent into a full Heroic BSoD and feels this is her mess she must clean up on her own now. She urges Clint to go home and be with his family instead of tangling himself further in her mess. However, Clint is clearly sympathetic to her distressed feelings and refuses to leave her.
  Clint: Kate, you're my partner. Your mess is my mess. I'm not going anywhere until this is finished.
  • When he calls her his partner, the touched look on Kate's face really just warms your heart.
  • Later on, while riding the subway Clint tries to console Kate and she shuts him down saying she's trying not to think about it. So he changes tack and instead, tries to cheer her up by musing about "the ton of gear" they're going to need, including "a whole batch of way too dangerous trick arrows." It works.
• Kate finally tells Clint how he saved and inspired her, getting a very warm smile from him. By the end of the episode, he tells Kate that meeting her improved his life in every way.
  Kate: You showed me that being a hero isn’t just for people who can fly or shoot lasers out of their hands. It’s for anyone, who’s brave enough to do what’s right, no matter the cost.
• While infiltrating the Christmas Party, Clint teaches Kate how to identify assets and threats for their mission, showing he's finally taken into the mentor role and is totally okay with passing on his Hawkeye legacy onto Kate.
• Jacques shows no resentment toward Kate for her involvement in him being arrested and even calls her "sweetie" when he catches up to her after the building is evacuated.
  • Jacques putting his sword (which Kate assumes he brought to the party as a strange way to prove his innocence) to good use to Hold the Line against the oncoming Tracksuits, with Kate clearly grateful for the help.
• The LARPers coming together to help save everyone in the party, becoming true heroes for the night.
• During the showdown with the Tracksuit Mafia, the one mook who vented about his relationship problems to Kate confronts her and, during a lull in the action, warmly thanks her for giving the advice that saved their relationship. Kate is taken aback but states (sincerely) that she's delighted things worked out for him before knocking him out. Even fistfights can be heartwarming, bro.
• More of Kate and Yelena's interactions; they end up fighting as Kate tries to stop Yelena from killing Clint. However, their fight is played in a more comical tone and there's no serious atmosphere to it; and the two are clearly holding back with each other the whole time. Yelena gives Kate props for developing a bola weapon and compliments a few combat moves she nicely pulled off, to which Kate also compliments her fighting technique. Kate even suggests that, since it's Christmas, they could go out and have a drink after the fight, which Yelena admits she wouldn't mind doing. This affirms that the two have become Friendly Enemies and can potentially become best friends in the future, much like their predecessors.
• When Yelena has him cornered and is about to shoot, Clint uses the secret whistle Yelena and Natasha developed as kids in Ohio, stopping her dead in her tracks. Clint reveals that Natasha told him everything about Yelena, their life together, how they got separated, and how much Natasha loved her little sister.
  Yelena: How do you know that?
  Clint: Your secret whistle with Nat. She talked about you all the time, Yelena.
  Yelena: She did? What did she say?
  Clint: She told me how you got separated as kids. She was flying that plane. I asked her if she was scared. All she could think about was that you were safe. That never changed, Yelena. She loved you, and always wanted you safe.
  • The little look on Yelena's face when Clint reveals how much Natasha talked about her and never forgot about her. This moment of realization was the only thing that could finally snap Yelena out of her Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
  • Yelena, in turn, finally comes to accept that Clint didn't kill Natasha and lets go of her misguided hatred, even helping him up when he's fallen.
• When in the Rockerfeller Christmas Tree, Clint says a small "Hey there" to an adorable owl that's perched in the tree's branches.^note This is most likely a reference to an owl that was accidentally found in the Rockerfeller Christmas Tree in 2020.
• Wendy offering Jack an invitation into the LARPing group. Knowing Jack, he’d probably really enjoy it.
• Despite the betrayal and losing a lot of respect and trust for her mother, Kate's last words to Eleanor are an affirmation that she still loves her.
• When Clint is talking to Kate after the fight is over, he commends her for winning her fight with the Kingpin. He says the simple fact she walked away from a fight with the Kingpin himself is a huge win for her and he outright says he's proud of her for it and she should be too.
• The episode ends with Clint bringing Kate and Lucky to the Barton farm to spend Christmas with his family. Laura and the kids warmly welcome them both, hugging Kate as though she was a long-time friend of the family. Doubly heartwarming given that Kate just essentially cut ties with her mom and, given that she was the only family member she had left, gaining Clint's family as a new one is perfect timing for her.
• In the middle of the celebrations, Clint brings Kate outside with him so they can burn the Ronin suit on his grill and put the whole mess behind them for good.
• As the final scene of the show, Kate lists off several codenames for her own superhero title. Clint shoots down every idea as a bad one, which Kate laughs about. He then tells her that he has a personal suggestion for her. Cue the title card.

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